Today’s goal accomplished, finished reading this book. “Don’t cry, you’re still alive.” by Kirsten Boie is about the life of 3 teenagers after 2nd world war in war torn Hamburg, Germany. I need some time to let my mind rest before I can write a proper book review for this book.
The book’s title says: “Don’t cry”, however, it is difficult for me not to cry while reading it. Anyway, there is one paragraph that made me laugh. A scene in a black market, where people can illegally exchange things. Popular stuffs would be food, falsified identity document and cigarette. Among those survival items, a man want to exchange his 20 volume set of Goethe complete edition. Could Goethe be needed when the hunger was great?
At this moment, is a lovely poem of Goethe popped up. This poem is in one of my books with Rosina Wachtmeister’s illustration.
Do you know the land where the lemons blossom,
Where oranges grow golden among dark leaves,
A gentle wind drifts from the blue sky,
The myrtle stands silent, the laurel tall,
Do you know it?
It is there, it is there
I long to go with you, my love.
Do you know the house? Columns support its roof,
Its great hall gleams, its apartments shimmer,
And marble statues stand and stare at me:
What have they done to you, poor child?
Do you know it?
It is there, it is there
I long to go with you, my protector.
Do you know the mountain and its cloudy path?
The mule seeks its way through the mist,
Caverns house the dragons’ ancient brood;
The rock falls sheer, the torrent over it,
Do you know it?
It is there, it is there
Our pathway lies! O father, let us go!
Translations by Richard Stokes, author of The Book of Lieder (Faber, 2005)
Music of tonight is the new piece I am learning now after “Six Little Preludes BWV 933-938”. The new piece is composed by one of J.S. Bach’s teachers – Dieterich Buxtehude. Let’s listen to Suite in F Major, BuxWV 238: III. Sarabande. Don’t cry, good night!